Evidence Against Oswald Essays - Lee Harvey Oswald, Free Essays

Evidence Against Oswald Essays - Lee Harvey Oswald, Free Essays Evidence Against Oswald Evidence Against Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin or wrongfully accused? Even though many people believe Oswald was not guilty or that he was not the only assassin, important evidence points all fingers directly at Lee Harvey Oswald. There are many key factors involved in the Warren Commissions investigation that helps convict Lee Harvey Oswald. Though there are many skeptics of the Warren Commission Report, any theories supported by such people who believe that Oswald was not guilty are clearly missing all the facts and are overlooking evidence that shows Oswald to be guilty. The primary evidence, as well as secondary and circumstantial evidence make it clear that Lee Harvey Oswald had motive, means and opportunity to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. To understand why Oswald was arrested for the murder of J.F.K., you need to know of Oswalds whereabouts during and after the time of the shooting and why the police knew where to find him. At approximately 1:16 p.m. on November 22, 1963, a Dallas police officer by the name of J.D. Tippit was shot and killed. Oswald was seen on Jefferson Boulevard less than one mile from the shooting of the officer and was seen by Johnny Calvin Brewer, a manager of a shoe store a few blocks from the Texas Theater. Brewer described Oswald as acting suspicious, he stated, When he heard the police sirens, he looked upand turned around and walked up West Jefferson avenue towards the theater after the police car turned around (Warren Commission Report, pg. 177-178). Mr. Brewer followed Oswald to the Texas Theater because of his suspicions after hearing on the radio announcements of Kennedy being shot. When Mr. Brewer reached the theater he noticed that the man he was following (Oswald) had entered the thea ter without paying. Mr. Brewer informed Mrs. Postal, the ticket office sales person, and she then phoned the police. At 1:45 p.m., police officers appeared at the Texas Theater where Brewer pointed out Oswald to them. Officer McDonald then approached Oswald and while attempting to reach for the gun on Oswalds waist, Oswald struck McDonald (Warren Commission Report, pg. 178). McDonald seized the gun from Oswald and Oswald was arrested as a suspect in the murder of J.D. Tippit. This is very important because if not for Oswald entering the theater without paying, he may not have been arrested and then later be singled out in several police lineups. Howard L. Brennan was an eyewitness to the shooting of John F. Kennedy. Brennan testified that he saw a man fire shots from the sixth floor window of the Texas Schoolbook Depository. The window was approximately one hundred and twenty feet away from Brennan, (Warren Commission Report pg.44), putting him in an excellent position to observe anyone in the window. The night of the assassination, Brennan identified Oswald in a police lineup as the man who most clearly fit the description of the person he saw firing shots from the Depository window. With an eyewitness to the murder of J.F.K, the police now had someone under the arrest for the murder of the President. Brennan had testified that it was the sixth floor window from which he had seen Oswald firing shots and it was there that the police recovered a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. This rifle had the markings including MADE ITALY, CAL.6.5, 1940 and the serial number C2766 (Warren Commission report pg. 81). Joseph D. Nicol, who at the time was the superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for the state of Illinois, and Robert A. Frazier, a special agent of the FBI (Warren Commission Report pg.84), testified to the Warren Commission. They positively stated that the bullet found on the stretcher at Parkland hospital and bullet fragments found with in the presidential limousine were fired from the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle with the serial number C2766 to the exclusion of all other rifles. Now that the gun that killed Kennedy had been identified, the next step was to positively identify the owner of the gun. The FBI learned that the rifle was distributed from Crescent Firearms Inc, which shipped the rifle with the serial number of C2766 to Kleins Sporting Goods Co. The store searched its records and